Auto bailout still dominates crucial battle for Ohio

Supporters listen to Republican Presidential candidate Mitt Romney during a rally at the Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Marion, Ohio on October 28, 2012.

Michael O'Brien of NBC News reports that auto industry politics is dominating the closing days of the campaign in the all-important battleground state of Ohio:

The Romney campaign circulated on Sunday several newspaper endorsements — the Des Moines Register and the Cincinnati Enquirer among them — to argue that the Republican ticket had made inroads in crucial swing states. The Obama campaign responded in kind by sending reporters endorsement editorials from the Youngstown Vindicator and the Toledo Blade, both of which referenced the 2009 auto industry bailout as a point in Obama's favor.

The auto bailout — which Romney had opposed, memorably, in a New York Times op-ed entitled "Let Detroit Go Bankrupt" — has assumed a central role in the closing days of the campaign, especially as the election plays out largely on a Midwestern, industrial and economically-battered playing field. Read the full story.

Vice Chair of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, Carly Fiorina; Washington Post columnist E.J. Dionne; New York Times columnist David Brooks; MSNBC's Rachel Maddow; and NBC's Chuck Todd discuss the importance of Ohio in this presidential election.